I’m old enough to remember when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968 \u2013 52 years ago. That date gives me pause. It did then when I was holding my one-year-old baby boy in my arms and hearing the horrendous news of the assassination of this passionate, honorable man who endeavored to make a difference in this world of anger and hate. It was only five years previously, sitting in my 10th Grade Geometry class, that the news came over the loud speaker that President Kennedy had been shot. We \u201cpaused\u201d to pray, and later found out that he had passed away. Today, I \u201cpause\u201d again to pray earnestly for our country, our leaders and for an outbreak of a love revolution. As Dr. King said, \u201cI have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.\u201d And as Jesus said: \u201cYou have heard that it was said, \u2018Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.\u2019 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you\u201d. (Matthew 5:43-44)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The night before he was killed, Dr. King spoke at a church in Memphis. He had been receiving death threats for over 10 years but never shied away from public appearances. “We’ve got some difficult days ahead, but it doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place, but I’m not concerned about that now, I just want to do God’s will.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And isn\u2019t that what we all should be saying and living out in our lives \u2013 \u201cI just want to do God\u2019s will.\u201d Dr. King was right: God calls us to stand for what is right because it is right. Whatever the cost, whatever it takes, wherever He leads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I know of no better way to honor Dr. King than to mimic him in and his memory by beginning each day with the strong desire to do God’s will and to serve his God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What does doing God\u2019s will look like? I think it looks like Martin Luther King\u2019s relentless pursuit of peace, goodwill to all men (and women). It is putting aside \u201canything goes\u201d and living with zeal and determination to make a difference in this world. This isn’t a day and time to muddle through and hide in a crowd or a cubicle or a boardroom or classroom. If I\u2019ve come to know about those who have given their lives for our country and those who lived lives of relentless passion for others \u2013 it is what I desire my life to look like. So much good has come from the dreams and passion of Martin Luther King Jr. What will be said of our dreams and passion in 52 years?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’m old enough to remember when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968 \u2013 52 years ago. That date gives me pause. It did then when I was holding my one-year-old baby boy in my arms and hearing the horrendous news of the assassination of this passionate, honorable man who endeavored…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16208,16207,16206],"tags":[156,1111,492,11946,714,132,111,218,219,16201,44,1066,16202,16204,16205],"class_list":["post-11774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dream","category-legacy","category-martin-luther-king-jr","tag-birthday","tag-determination","tag-goodwill","tag-hate","tag-legacy","tag-love","tag-love-your-enemies","tag-love-your-neighbor","tag-make-a-difference","tag-martin-luther-king-jr","tag-peace","tag-prayer","tag-president-john-f-kennedy","tag-pursuit-of-peace","tag-zeal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11774"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11779,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11774\/revisions\/11779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}